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Taking the Country Back from the Neoconservatives
Posted 9-15-2003
The neoconservatives that have Bush's ear are ruining this country --
plain and simple. The question is, will the media start waking up and
reporting about just what these right-wing extremists have done to our
country in a very short time, or will they continue to be lap dogs of the
corporate entities that own most of the media?
You may say, "How are they
ruining this country?" Let me focus on two fronts. First domestically, our
federal government is running up the largest deficit in history, and the
deficit is now growing so large that as a percentage of the GNP, it will
surpass the deficit run up by Reagan in 1986. The neoconservatives were
determined to cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans, regardless of the fact
they knew the economy was slowing down and revenues were declining. They
pushed the tax cuts through with fudged numbers of economic growth that
contrasted anything put out by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office
and by virtually any economist except their own flunkies. This lie
perpetrated by Bush at the urging of his neoconservative gurus is going to
be much more painful and expensive than Bush's misadventures in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
What ever happened to the
first plank of Newt's Contract With America? A Balanced Budget Amendment
that was so critical when Bill Clinton was president, now with the
right-wingers controlling the White House and both Houses of Congress, isn’t
so important. Why? Because balancing the budget would be impossible with the
tax cuts, and the economic down turn. Can anyone say hypocrites?
Please do not think
everything changed after September 11, 2001. That is going to be these
neoconservatives' excuse for everything. The economic woes were happening
before that day, the tax cuts were happening anyway, and the
neoconservatives desire for international adventure was in place. September
11th will be the event they use to justify every one of their misdeeds.
Since that day, we've invaded
(liberated) Afghanistan because it was a training ground for the terrorists.
Yet, can anyone tell me how we've made that situation better? Have the
Taliban, who embraced the terrorists, been put out of action? No! In fact,
we are still there spending money and losing lives, and the people of
Afghanistan are welcoming back the Taliban because a country ruled by tribal
warlords is worse for them than repressive Islamic fundamentalists. And
let's not forget, just like with Saddam, these guys, including Osama bin
Laden, were armed and supported by the USA in the 1980's and early 1990's.
The travesty of the Iraq
invasion, perhaps, is the greatest example of the smugness and lack of
perspective these neoconservatives like Wolfowitz have. Ignoring our own
intelligence community, our military, and our diplomatic community, they
trumped up Saddam’s role in September 11th to justify an invasion. Saddam
was a repressive creep, but that was nothing new. And, he was our repressive
creep when daddy Bush and Cheney were giving him chemical weapons to use on
the Kurds.
Not only have we lost lives
and spent money in Iraq, these neocons have shown a profound lack of
understanding of Islamic culture to believe we would have smooth sailing
after the invasion. They are either incredibly hardheaded, incredibly
ignorant, or they deliberately trumped up the invasion to keep Bush polling
numbers up, and the American public distracted from our problems at home.
Also, why did the Bush Administration delete all references to Saudi Arabia
in the report on who was involved in the September 11th attack? Why are we
protecting the Saudi royal family when it is already known that many of the
terrorists were Saudis and the royal family has likely been funneling money
to terrorists to buy their own safety? Could it be the business relationship
between Halliburton and the Bush family with the Saudi royal family and the
Bin Laden family is too lucrative to harm?
So, on both fronts,
domestically and internationally, the dogmatic, arrogant neoconservatives
are doing damage that will take years to correct. Our grandchildren may be
dealing with the budget fiasco these right-wingers have caused. Our
reputation around the world has not been enhanced by our pre-emptive, first
strike, imperialistic policy in Iraq. And now, Bush is asking for the United
Nations to help, but only by our rules.
Why are these neocons like
Wolfowitz and Bolton so abrasive and arrogant anyway? Power can certainly be
an intoxicant. But, worldview and life experience can cause people to have
such a warped perspective of fairness and compassion that they march off
with callousness toward anyone whose views differ from theirs.
Unfortunately, these guys have taken a President with limited knowledge of
the world and isolated him from even reasonable Republicans. Their
unilateralist approach, both domestically and internationally, is one that
will cause all Americans to pay a high price for a long time.
The solution? We must take
back our country precinct by precinct. And, whether it is in formal or
informal settings, we must challenge the right-wing extremists and push them
back to the fringes of the political landscape where they belong. |
